Athens to Atlanta

Hi All, I am back from Atlanta, the weather was great EXCEPT during the race it rained! It is no fun at all trying to warm up and then take to the line of a speed skating race in the slippery, cold, and wet. Field sizes were smaller this year due to the bad weather. From the start of the 52-mile race my legs felt bad, stiff and heavy, but I figured we would roll out slow and I would eventually loosen up... NOT! A mile or 2 in and a break of 2 teammates (pyro) went... uggg, I bridged them on the next hill as I can climb good in the rain, then another of their teammates made the gap also. 3 pyro boys and me, no one else would make the break. I didn't want this to come down to a 3 against 1 at the end, and 2 guys had trouble climbing. I tried my best to work the pace on the hills at just the right tempo to "almost" drop them, sure enough they kept putting in huge efforts to stay on. *pop* went one guy of the back, another 10 miles and off goes the other, it was just me and one very tough guy 'Alan' left with about 20 miles to go. My legs never did loosen up and I was suffering the worse I think I ever have, frustrating because I have skated a lot faster with less effort - not Sunday though, it was like a bad dream with my legs stuck in slow motion for 3 hours, my form was shot and I was struggling, creating terrible pain in my ankle bones, the hard carbon boots digging in and making every stroke a stab on the ankle. On a good day I think would have been the stronger skater, but Sunday Alan was the man. Many times I had to sprint for all I was worth just to stay on him. Although wheezing and dizzy I knew that IF I could stay to the end I could take him in a sprint, he had great pace, but not that 100-meter bang. The final 12 miles are fairly flat and although I was cooked, I could feel some recovery in those last miles, the rain had stopped and the roads were drying out too. Alan was starting to pay the price for his assaults - the tide was slowly changing! With about 5 miles to go my clenched teeth and glazed eyes started to give way to a small grin and a little squint. Into Piedmont park side by side we went, I wanted to give Alan a fair shot and not attack off his back, he skated with tremendous pace and effort and deserved a clean sprint. With 100 meters we launched and I opened a quick 10-meter gap then ZAP my left calf locked! Still 50 meters to go! I was screaming and sprinting with my one good leg, trying to push with every thing I had and not fall on my butt. I crossed the, with the cramped calf dangling behind me. As soon as the metal barriers gave way to grass I went down onto the ground, heaving lungs and unable to move my leg. The kind volunteers got me sorted and after a few minutes I was sitting up. 1st overall! But I suffered way more than I had ever expected. I would like to thank all my cycling friends and teammates who let me skate behind their big wheels, and helped my cycling and fitness in so many ways. -Rodney